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He’s been a huge miss from our screens but we don’t have to wait much longer to see Simon Gregson reprise his role as Steve McDonald.

After taking a break from Coronation Street, Simon will be back on screen in coming weeks – right on time to see his wife Michelle Connor growing close to her first love, Will.

But as Steve faces a challenge and a troubling time ahead as he learns that he could be about to lose Michelle, there has been nothing but joy behind the scenes for co-stars Simon and Kym Marsh as they have been reunited.

And Kym couldn’t hide her delight when she spoke to us about working with him again:

You’ve worked with Simon for years. Is it nice to have someone else [Leon Ockenden as Will] to bounce off?

It’s always nice when we have new characters come in, because they always bring a new dynamic to any kind of situation. Yes, it is nice to play alongside someone who you haven’t played alongside before. It’s not necessarily better, it’s just different. It’s nice cos it does mix things up a little bit. I’ve missed Simon terribly, I’m so glad he’s back. Our first scene together when he came back, we were both really excited about it, going ‘Oooh, we’ve got a scene together.’ It’s like putting on a comfy pair of slippers, we’re slipping back into that. I’m putting my comfies on. That is true though, because every scene I’ve done with Leon, I’ve been dressed in something really uncomfortable, I can’t sit down properly!

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What was it like to re-establish that rapport between you and Simon?

(Picture: ITV)

It was just there, straight away. Obviously I’ve spoken to him on the phone quite a lot since he’s been off, and he’s been and popped in – he’s missed us, I think. So yeah, it’s been so good to see him, and he looks really well – a bit too well with the fake tan! He’s browner than me now! On screen, he always used to look like Caspar next to me.

I said to him the other day, ‘You’re like Des O Connor.’ When I was talking to him before he came back, he said ‘Emma [Simon’s wife]’s fake baked me’ and I said ‘Has she?’ and he went ‘Yeah, but my hands are a bit patchy; I look like I’ve had a fight with a gingerbread man.’ But it’s so nice to have him back, and there’s just that thing on set when Simon’s there, it’s nice. We get through our scenes quite quickly. You work together that long, it’s gonna be like that. When I’m reading my scripts, I can hear him doing his lines, even though he’s not there. You just get to know each other and you know how they’re gonna say things.

Does he surprise you sometimes, does he try to make you laugh?

I always know he’s gonna make me laugh, because it’s impossible for him to do anything without making me laugh, it’s an impossibility for him. I always say to him now ‘Please, whatever you’re gonna do on a take, you have to do it on rehearsal’ because if he surprises me, I just burst out laughing. He is one of the most funny characters, he just turns it on, you have to be prepared for anything.

Steve and Michelle are up there with some of the classic Corrie couples…

(Picture: ITV)

Thank you, it’s very flattering, someone said that to Simon the other day as well. It’s really flattering actually to be thought about being anywhere near those kind of characters, that’s why we hope we don’t end up being split up, but you just don’t know, do you? But it’s very flattering.